Page 60 of Defenseless
“Except you,” Sabina pointed out.
He raised his glass to her. “I’m nothing but a lowly accountant. I know nothing about the new organization in control, so I’m not worth bothering. I find that it’s a rather nice spot to be.”
Chad suspected it was. He appeared to have all the money he’d ever need and was left alive to enjoy it. If only Chad bought into that story.
“Is Jacobs still involved in those kinds of activities?” Sabina asked.
Benicio studied her then lifted a shoulder. “As of five years ago, yes. The specific activities have changed over time, of course. But if you’re asking whether the senator is engaged in activities unbecoming of a public servant, then I’d say you have it right.”
“With whom?” Kara asked.
“ThatI’m not at liberty to say,” he answered. Regardless of what he’d told them about his ability to speak freely, Chad thought there was a lot he’d already said that he wasn’t at liberty to say. It could be he felt some guilt for Emer Houseman’s murder, and giving them information about Jacobs’s past dealings assuaged some of that. Or there could be another reason.
“I assume you know why we’re here,” Sabina said. “I’m not naive enough to believe that you have any feelings toward Kara or me that would induce you to help us bring Jacobs to justice for the murder of our mother. But as you say, what’s in the past is in the past. If everyone is dead, there’s no one to make you pay the price for talking to us. If you have any records that might help, we’d be happy to take them off your hands.”
His eyes flickered between his daughters, and Chad would have liked to say he saw something in his gaze—maybe compassion or some sign he realized what he’d missed out on when he walked out of their lives—but he didn’t. Benicio could have been talking to two women off the street for all he appeared to care.
“I have nothing,” he finally said. “When I retired, I destroyed everything. But even the files I had would not have brought you the justice you seek. I had plenty of records of his finances, but nothing that tied him to Emer’s murder.”
That was a statement Chad did believe. There would have been no reason for him to have any evidence related to the murder. It was a possibility Chad had considered. Expected even. But that didn’t make it any easier to accept. At least they had confirmation that Benicio had, in fact, laundered money for Jacobs. Even if they had no evidence to support that fact. Nor, for that matter, did they learn any of the information that Stella and Hunter had hoped for.
“Well,” Benicio said on an exhale. “Since you came without warning, I haven’t cleared my schedule. I have a meeting in town, so if there’s nothing more?”
Chad had to work very hard not to react to the man’s dismissal of his daughters. Despite what Sabina and Kara had said about him earlier, ithadto hurt to be so casually brushed aside by a man who was supposed to care for them. A man who should have loved them, but who had, in fact, been little more than a sperm donor who then ruined their lives. Not that the sisters led terrible lives. But what they’d built, who they’d become, was in spite of him, not because of him.
Sabina didn’t need his outrage, though, so he held his reaction in check.
Instead of responding to the man now walking them to the door, he took Sabina’s hand and held tight. Ethan didn’t reach for Kara’s, but he did keep his hand on her lower back, letting her know he was there.
Benicio led them back downstairs, calling for a man named Vitor who Chad assumed was the beady-eyed henchman who’d let them in. When the man hadn’t appeared by the time they reached the front door, the little hairs on Chad’s neck started to twitch.
“Does your manservant often go missing?” he asked, pausing at the door.
Benicio half bobbed, half shook his head. “I’m sure he’s in the garage pulling the car out.”
Chad looked at Ethan and barely tipped his head. Reading the message correctly, Ethan subtly moved Kara a step behind him. Sabina’s arm stiffened, and she squeezed his hand. She might not have the same intuition that he did in situations like these, but she knew him well enough to sense thathesensed something off. With no debate, she stepped behind him when he tugged her back.
“Do you have a driver?” Benicio asked, swinging the door open.
“We do—”
Chad never got to finish his answer as a hail of bullets tore through the entry.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
CChad spunand yanked Sabina farther into the house, pressing her back against a concrete pillar and shielding her body with his. He spared a look across the hall and saw Ethan had Kara in much the same position.
Peeking his head around the column, Chad quickly ducked back when a second volley of bullets hit. He’d had enough time, though, to see Benicio’s body bleeding and sprawled across the steps. What he had not seen was the shooter. Although he’d wager it was Vitor and that Vitor was positioned in the greenery near the gate.
“We should have worn earpieces,” Chad muttered, cursing the fact that they hadn’t. Now he needed to hold both his phone and his weapon. Juggling the two wasn’t going to be easy.
“I’ll call Teague,” Sabina said. “You manage your gun.” Her bag with her phone was pressed between her back and the pillar, so rather than try to reach around, she dug into the front pocket of his jeans for his.
Trusting Sabina to do what needed to be done, he took another quick look outside. He had his Glock out, as did Ethan, but he didn’t want to take a shot unless he knew what he was shooting at. His magazine held fifteen bullets. As did Ethan’s. But up against the Heckler UMP submachine gun that Chad was nearly sure Vitor had, he wasn’t going to test their odds—not with Sabina and Kara in the picture.
Scanning the room for an alternative, Chad cursed the open layout of the house. He was aware of Sabina and Teague making a plan, but his mind was too focused on how to get them out to participate.
“Back door?” Ethan suggested.
